Overview
AI Intellectual Property Update:
- The copyright office Chief Economist recently gave some remarks on AI:
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- "Development of AI technology is going to have very meaningful implications for the economic frameworks of copyright policy. For example, AI can make the production of creative works by human creators much less costly, thereby increasing creative output and access to it. In contrast, the work produced by generative AI can, in many contexts, directly compete with traditional human creators, thereby decreasing their creative output. In fact, there are many complex and often countervailing factors inherent in generative AI that will affect the creative ecosystem, and economists have only just begun to explore those."
AI Policy Update—U.S.:
- A Utah law imposing regulations on the private sector's use of AI will go into effect next week, marking the first time a state has implemented such legislation. The AI Policy Act, S.B. 149, amends the state's consumer protection and privacy laws by imposing transparency requirements on companies that use AI. Individuals or businesses providing a service that requires a license or certification will be required to disclose when a consumer is engaging with AI at the start of the interaction. Other deployers of generative AI that don’t fall into the license or certification category still must disclose the use of the technology, but only if a consumer asks. The law puts the responsibility on companies deploying AI, meaning a company using someone else's model will be at fault if that model violates the law.
- AI procurement guidance is coming to U.S. agencies this month. Starting April 27, generative AI procurement information will be added to the General Services Administration’s IT category management market group. Category management helps vendors and agencies to understand market requirements, identify related contracts, compare supplier capabilities and prices, and study other contract terms to help standardize acquisitions and streamline procurement. The guidance is designed “to help guide” safe acquisition of AI.
AI Policy Update—European Union:
- On April 18, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), examined a corrigendum of the EU AI Act. The purpose of this step was to identify and correct errors in the text of the EU AI Act before its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Following the examination of the corrigendum, the European Parliament released an updated version of the text. The next step in the legislative process is the final endorsement by the Council of the EU (at the ministry level).
AI Policy Update—International:
- On April 16, academic experts in China released the second iteration of their inaugural Model Law of Artificial Intelligence, which added details focusing on open source AI and intellectual property protection. The IP protection measures include specific provisions for handling training data and personal information in the research and development phases, as well as safeguards for AI-generated output and the identification of infringement.
